A Fair Isle Experiment

The Master of Hand Knitting course I am working on, Level III, requires a self-designed sweater, which can either be Fair Isle or cabled. I have chosen to design a Fair Isle sweater. After the first four swatches, it occured to me that I had never knit a Fair Isle sweater from someone else’s pattern either, and perhaps I should do that.

After some exploration, I fell in love with Alice Starmore’s Abalone sweater included in her Pacific Coast Highway collection, but knew I could not afford the exorbitant prices her books, many of which are out of print, are going for on Ebay. What to do???

A couple of weekends ago, while in Door County, WI, I wondered into a knit shop in Sturgeon Bay. On the off chance they might have a copy, I checked out the book rack, and sure enough – there it was – a paperback copy for $20.95. It seems it was meant to be, and they clearly didn’t know what they had. The book smells a bit musty, but the pattern is there, along with directions for steeks and the whole nine yards.

Needless to say, I came home, went to my local shop, and ordered all of the yarn to start the project. See the photo above.

I will post photos as the project progresses. Unfortunately it is going to be slow, because I have designed a knit Christmas Stocking for the store, Monterey Yarns, in Green Bay. I have knit one, and am now in the process of knitting another in order to check the pattern. Photos of that will come as well.